Page "Lázaro Cárdenas" Paragraph 8

Cárdenas sought to actively help the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War, but those efforts were largely thwarted by the Roosevelt administration.

After the war ended with the defeat of the loyalist Republicans, Cárdenas gave specific instructions to his ambassador and envoys in Europe to give safe haven and protection to all exiles, including President Manuel Azaña, actively sought for deportation by the Spanish fascist government and by French collaborationist authorities.

Azaña died in France under Mexican diplomatic protection, but Cárdenas was able to bring to Mexico tens of thousands of refugees, among them distinguished intellectuals who left a lasting imprint in Mexican cultural life.

But not only intellectuals were granted asylum in Mexico: from the 4, 559 passengers who arrive to Mexico in 1939 on board the ships Sinaia, Ipanema and Mexique, for example, the largest groups were formed by technicians and qualified workers ( 32 %), farmers and ranchers ( 20 %), along with professionals, technicians, workers, business people students and merchants – this last group representing 43 % of the total.